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The composer, playwright, researcher, and cultural promoter from Mexico, Luis Pérez Sabido, held a meeting with young students from the Jazz Band at the National Museum of Music (MNM) at the institution's headquarters this Friday; an event that brought together Cuban musical tradition with decades of emotional ties between the Yucatecan artist and the island, reported the Cuban News Agency.
The group, led by musician and teacher Enrique Rodríguez Toledo, opened the event by performing the piece "La Habana," a composition by Pérez Sabido himself, which, as he explained to those present, was born out of his admiration and love for Cuba, the source noted.
The repertoire of the small concert also included iconic pieces from the Cuban musical heritage: "La danza ñáñiga," by master Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963), and "Mata Siguaraya," by Lino Frías (1915-1980), the latter internationally popularized by the unmistakable voice of Benny Moré (1919-1963), regarded as one of the greatest artists in the history of Cuba.
Rodríguez Toledo explained that the Jazz Band was created on October 4, 2025 as part of the MNM's institutional desire to have an ensemble of this type, composed of young intermediate-level instrumentalists from the artistic education system, with a repertoire that includes jazz, Cuban music in its diverse styles, and international creations, the medium elaborated.
After the presentation, Pérez Sabido congratulated the members of the group and praised the fact that so many young people participate in these musical bands, a gesture that took on special meaning in the context of Cuba facing a profound economic and social crisis that has led to massive emigration, including that of young artists and musicians.
The visitor arrives at this meeting with a career spanning seven decades in artistic and cultural endeavors, which he will celebrate in 2026. As the delegate from Yucatán for the Instituto Bolero México, Pérez Sabido participated in the process that led to the bolero being declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO on December 5, 2023, through a binational nomination shared by Cuba and Mexico.
Cuba declared the bolero Cultural Heritage of the Nation on August 26, 2021, while Mexico had done so in 2018, three years earlier. The genre was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1883 and found some of its greatest exponents in Mexican lands.
Pérez Sabido's connection to the island is deep and officially recognized: the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC) awarded him the International Prize "Miguel Matamoros."
Among the most celebrated works of his extensive production —which exceeds 200 compositions— is the poem "I Know You Will Return," the lyrics of which he wrote and which was set to music by his dear friend Armando Manzanero, who passed away on December 28, 2020. The song became a worldwide hit in the voice of Luis Miguel.
Precisely with the name of the poem-song and the presence of Pérez Sabido, in June 2025, the concert "I Know That You Will Return. Tribute to Manzanero in Cuba" was held at the Avellaneda Hall of the National Theater of Cuba, organized by the Ministry of Culture of the island and the government of Mexico, and featuring prominent musicians from both nations.
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